Sylvain Distin looks certain to earn his dream move to St James's Park after Bobby Robson admitted negotiations to tie the French defender to a permanent deal were at an advanced stage.

Sylvain Distin looks certain to earn his dream move to St James's Park after Bobby Robson admitted negotiations to tie the French defender to a permanent deal were at an advanced stage.

The Newcastle boss met with chairman Freddie Shepherd earlier this week to discuss the future of a number of first team squad members.

Distin and fellow countryman Olivier Bernard were top of the agenda and the former will definitely be staying with United over the summer.

On Wednesday Distin told The Journal he was keen to commit his long-term future to the club but was prepared to consider alternative options. In fact Robson decided some time ago that he would like to keep the Paris St Germain defender on Tyneside.

Although Distin may not be granted his wish to revert to centre back just yet he will be offered a permanent contract within the next few weeks and his manager admitted: "Sylvain's done very well for us and we like him very much.

"There are areas that he can improve upon but we can help him to get better.

"The chairman knows how I feel about him and we spoke about his future again this week.

"I hope we will complete the deal soon but he's on loan with us until the end of the season and he's not going anywhere.

"There's an agreed figure for Sylvain's permanent transfer. The boy likes it here, we like him and that should mean there are no problems."

Last night it appeared as though Distin would continue at left-back against Ipswich with the increasingly frustrated Robbie Elliott due to spend another afternoon warming the bench.

Meanwhile Robson is resigned to the fact that he will be without midfielder Jamie McClen for the remainder of the month after the former trainee tore a calf muscle in training on Thursday.

It is a cruel blow for last Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final man-of-the-match and his manager admitted: "It's very sad news about Jamie. He played superbly against Arsenal last week - it was a classic dogfight and the little dog won.

"I'm sorry for Jamie that he's out of action for the next two or three weeks and I'm sorry for myself as manager."

Gary Speed is still not fully recovered from his hamstring injury and Jermaine Jenas is cup-tied for the trip to Arsenal next week. "The timing of this injury couldn't have been much worse - but Jamie will be back," said Robson.

One player not joining McClen at St James's will be Lorient striker Jean-Claude Darcheville after Robson expressed his surprise at comments the former Nottingham Forest player made to the French media on Wednesday.

On Thursday Newcastle officials refused to comment on speculation surrounding the player's possible switch to United but Robson was happy to set the record straight ahead of today's clash with his former club.

"First of all I can't spell the name, secondly I can't pronounce it and thirdly I don't know who he is," exclaimed the Magpies' manager.

"The club must be bringing a new manager in to sign him on. It's as ridiculous as that!"